The Flecktones are definitely an odd musical act. The four-piece instrumental band is rather hard to categorize. They call themselves "blu-bop"; the approach to songs essentially comes from jazz (melody, solo, solo, solo, melody), the banjo lends a bluegrass feel to the music, there are occasionally touches of world music, and there's a certain fusion aspect there as well. The men are all highly, highly capable musicians - some of the world's best, no exaggeration - which, as much as anything, is the reason I go to see them. I own no Flecktones CDs, but I've seen them three times. I'm not a huge fan of the music, really, but they're worth catching.

Given that I only know a few of their songs - my favorite of which is likely the song they opened the show with, Big Country (available on the ol' MySpace) - I guess I'll have to talk more about the musicians. I don't know enough about the banjo or banjo players to offer any definitive judgment, but I am familiar enough to say that Béla Fleck is one of the best banjo players around today. The man is no slouch. Jeff Coffin seems an entirely competent player of instruments that involve being blown into, and Futureman is... well, Futureman. He plays a drumitar, a weapon of his own creation that looks something like a guitar but triggers drum samples. He occasionally gets out the sticks and hits some metal and heads, too. Victor Wooten is, of course, the greatest electric bass player in the history of the instrument, no bullshit, no exaggeration. It's worth seeing for him alone.

From the way the Flecktones play, it's pretty evident they're obscenely talented and proficient. They've got odd times, key changes, and all the other stuff that musicians with talent to waste tend to have. They've also got some mean improvisational skills, to say the least. Perhaps most entertaining, they also have a sense of humor. During one of the songs in which they were exchanging solos, one of the band members (Victor?) broke out into a rendition of the Inspector Gadget theme, which the remaining members followed in turn with various other TV show themes (largely from the 80s). During Béla's acoustic banjo solo, he solved the problem of having to reach a fret that his hand simply could not stretch to by fretting it with his teeth.

I don't know if I can honestly offer a wholehearted endorsement of the Flecktones' music, since I don't really listen to it, but if they roll through town, you might want to consider getting tickets. If you're a musician, or are into watching and listening to some seriously gifted musical folk, they're surely worth a go.